a large system of heavy rain and thunderstorms is barrelling east across texas, louisiana, and mississippi. some of those thunderstorms could spawn tornadoes. now later today the threat of strong storms and heavy rain will move farther east towards alabama, tennessee, and kentucky. >>> this weekend's christmas holiday could provide a little bit of relief for newt gingrich's campaign in iowa. the super pack that's backing mitt romney and behind the ads attacking gingrich tells the "new york times," they will suspend their negative ads this weekend. but that doesn't mean the candidates are taking the heat off of each other. >> i know that the speaker would like to say, look, we shouldn't have any negativity. look, if you can't handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that's coming from obama's hell kitchen is going to be a lot hotter. >> if he wants to test the heat, i'll meet him anywhere in iowa next week, 90 minutes, no moderators, just a timer. if he wants to try out the kitchen, i'll be glad to debate him anywhere. >> wendy shiller is an associate professor of political science